Detroit: Become Human under Fire for Controversial Domestic Abuse Scene

Megalith

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Children's campaigners and a UK Member of Parliament have criticized upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive Detroit: Become Human for a controversial domestic abuse scene that featured in a trailer released earlier this year at Paris Games Week. One activist argues that it trivializes or normalizes child abuse, neglect, or domestic violence for entertainment.

In the video we see android housekeeper Kara thrust into an uncomfortable domestic abuse situation. She's charged with taking care of a young girl who is attacked by her belt-wielding single father. The video tries to get the point across that you're able to change the course of events at multiple points in the scene. The video shows that one of the potential moments sees the young girl shoot her father as he chases Kara.
 
Armenius

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They're still treating video games as toys, and thinking that the people playing them can't discern between fantasy and reality. Get out of here with that bullshit. I guess they're not concerned about all the studies linking violence to video games that have been discredited this year.
 
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Nolan7689

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It’s not that the scene is present. It’s that the scene is presented so absolutely poorly. Jim Sterling has already called out the game for handling it so poorly, and how the father acts and slurs and bellows.

I watched it and it’s just comically bad and poorly written. It’s the same thing David Cage always does. Takes a story concept that could be good and then fails to convey it.

It’s the opposite of Hellblade. They took mental illness and portrayed it in a accurate subtle way. They weren’t hamfisted about it.
 
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katanaD

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ok, its the job of a trailer, usually, to want to get people to buy the product. Having seen their trailer, i now have less then zero interest in that "game"
 
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SighTurtle

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Video games aren't art. As long as this concept is held, video games will never enjoy the protection of being able to interfere with serious topics. Look at these quotes:
Conservative MP Damian Collins, who is Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said: "It is completely wrong for domestic violence to be part of a video game regardless of what the motivation is. Domestic violence is not a game and this simply trivialises it. I worry that people who play this who themselves have suffered abuse will use this game to shape the way in which they deal with abusers.

Ignoring the many films, books and even music that deal with violence against children, Dame Esther told the right wing paper: "Violence against children is not entertainment. It's not a game. It's a real nightmare for thousands of children who have to live through these kinds of scenarios. The makers of this game should be thoroughly ashamed. I think it's perverse. Who thinks beating a child is entertainment?"

Andy Burrows, who is the associate head of child safety online at the NSPCC, also said: "Any video game that trivialises or normalises child abuse, neglect or domestic violence for entertainment is unacceptable."
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If it was a movie, I doubt they would be complaining. Gah.
 
jnemesh

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If people take a step back and realize that video games can and DO have a narrative just as valid as television or movies, this becomes a non-issue. We deal with domestic abuse in real life, I don't see the issue with tackling the subject in games.
 
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sirnephilim

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In that case, get rid of Pokemon. Literally every game starts out with a 10 year old kid leaving home to partake in sanctioned animal fights for money. Or Harry Potter which depicts neglect and abuse from the Dursleys in a lighthearted, humorous sort of way.

And since when is the simple depiction of an act without commentary normalizing? I'm guessing it isn't portrayed in a positive light since, as the creator points out, the plot of the game is that it's meant to be so disturbing as to make an AI maid rebel. Is their complaint that this depiction exists at all? Because that would seem to be increasing awareness of abuse and eliciting negative emotions regarding abusers which, stop me if I'm going off the PC script, is a good thing. I'm sure in a perfect world every potential act of child abuse would be solved by the psychic teleporting policemen who would arrive on scene just in time, but pending that bright future you're just trying to censor things you don't feel comfortable processing.
 
Armenius

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Nolan7689 said:
It’s not that the scene is present. It’s that the scene is presented so absolutely poorly. Jim Sterling has already called out the game for handling it so poorly, and how the father acts and slurs and bellows.

I watched it and it’s just comically bad and poorly written. It’s the same thing David Cage always does. Takes a story concept that could be good and then fails to convey it.

It’s the opposite of Hellblade. They took mental illness and portrayed it in a accurate subtle way. They weren’t hamfisted about it.
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Sorry, I can't take anything Jim Sterling says seriously.

Who cares how it's handled? The sole authority on the content is its creator. If it's accurate, then kudos, as it further suspends disbelief so the observor gets even more lost in the story.
 
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Nolan7689

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Armenius said:
Sorry, I can't take anything Jim Sterling says seriously.

Who cares how it's handled? The sole authority on the content is its creator. If it's accurate, then kudos, as it further suspends disbelief so the observor gets even more lost in the story.
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It’s not HANDLED in an accurate believable manner. DESPITE what the content creator believes.
 
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aeliusg

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I don't care how badly it's written, you don't get to arbitrarily ban content that is considered "problematic." Hopefully if Cage is good for anything he will stand by his guns. I'd hate for this scenario to be censored over someone's victim mentality as yet another demonstration of the imbalance of special interests in the Anglosphere.
 
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SighTurtle

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Criticizing how the content is handled, is different than asking for the content to be shut down/discouraged, if Jim Sterling thinks its unrealistic or whatever, so be it, but those saying that depicting it in games is bad, are wrong.
 
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Dr. Righteous

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Hmm, I guess the documentary films that offered a unflinching look at nazi atrocities at Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchhenwald promote violence against Jews, Gypsies, and Christians?
 
Master_shake_

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it's detroit?

wouldn't the house keeper just shoot the dad?

problem solved. but a 10 minute videogame wouldn't fly.

is this set in present time?
 
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Nolan7689 said:
It’s not HANDLED in an accurate believable manner. DESPITE what the content creator believes.
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That's fine, but it can't be a function of how well the material is presented that determines your basic right to present it. A statement needn't be eloquent to be valid, or even to be effective. Besides, taste is far too subjective to be used as a metric and not be abused politically. The paraphrase, "I don't know how to define obscenity but I know it when I see it," has been pretty firmly rejected as a matter of law because it turns free speech into a popularity contest.
 
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what it is likely intended to do is bring awareness to people about how things really are in Detroit but it may wind up serving to numb people to Detroit's plight instead
 
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Kor

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Weird that no one batted an eye at Wolfensteins domestic abuse scene, yet the game that's not even out get's all the focus.
 
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Azphira

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The UK legally murders unborn children since 1967, fuck off about make believe video games. You've already trivialized children.
 
DejaWiz

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This is just the latest iteration of the "Dungeons and Dragons is satanic!" scare that the media made up and spread decades ago.

Instill fear in the population.
Claim to have a solution.
Keep getting re-elected.
Win.
 
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theBrownLlama

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they are always loony peeps in the pop. The problem is that media is now in cahoots with them

oh wait, it the UK . It's kinda the norm now to expect such BS from them. Heh.
 
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Armenius

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Nolan7689 said:
It’s not HANDLED in an accurate believable manner. DESPITE what the content creator believes.
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You missed my point. I'm saying if it is. The game is a fantasy world, and the artist has to believe that everything they are creating exists in the world they created. If they are able to suspend disbelief in the content's observers then you've successfully fooled them into a sense of realism. With that can come an emotional attachment to the plight of the characters involved and you're able to portray a better story because of it. But when the creator fails to do that, does that mean what they created is any less? And by whose standards do we judge it on?

Regardless, just because you, I, or anyone else thinks something is handled poorly in a fictional universe doesn't give us the right to demand that it be removed. Critique it all you want, just don't expect everyone to agree with you.
 
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Nolan7689

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Armenius said:
Regardless, just because you, I, or anyone else thinks something is handled poorly in a fictional universe doesn't give us the right to demand that it be removed. Critique it all you want, just don't expect everyone to agree with you.
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Oh I definitely won’t demand for something to be removed. I stand by my mistakes and expect others to do the same. I wish it was handled better. I was honestly looking forward to the game and in some small part still am. But facsimiles of reality are getting tiresome when so poorly portrayed. It’s why Heavy Rain was a joke game to me the whole way through.
 
Armenius

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Nolan7689 said:
Oh I definitely won’t demand for something to be removed. I stand by my mistakes and expect others to do the same. I wish it was handled better. I was honestly looking forward to the game and in some small part still am. But facsimiles of reality are getting tiresome when so poorly portrayed. It’s why Heavy Rain was a joke game to me the whole way through.
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I can agree with that notion. My defense of the scene in no way says I like it. In fact, I have never been a fan of the games made by David Cage, but what I have seen of this game at least has my interest piqued.
 
Simmonz

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I can watch Monica Bellucci get corn holed in an alley on film but suddenly playing as an android watching some kid get beaten is going to turn me bad ? Such bullshit. If parents would do their damned job and actually parent maybe it wouldn't be such a worry. So many lazy bastards wanting to ban something rather than talk to their kid about touch subjects.
 
Ur_Mom

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Simmonz said:
I can watch Monica Bellucci get corn holed in an alley on film but suddenly playing as an android watching some kid get beaten is going to turn me bad ? Such bullshit. If parents would do their damned job and actually parent maybe it wouldn't be such a worry. So many lazy bastards wanting to ban something rather than talk to their kid about touch subjects.
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What movie was this?

If it's bad, I wouldn't let my kids play it. There are a lot of games out there that are definitely not for kids. Adults only. This is probably one of them. And it's not normalizing anything. It's bringing it some attention. If that's their argument, then all activists are trying to normalize their cause. If anything, it's bringing some awareness to others.

The abuse in Wolfenstein was shitty and really got your emotions going. You got angry at a video game character. Some games can pull it off. It definitely didn't normalize or trivialize anything.

If this guy has a problem with it, he shouldn't play it. If he lacks empathy and thinks that this is normalizing or trivializing domestic abuse, he needs to seek some help. Some of us have emotions and can feel for others. Even fictional characters if done right.
 
Simmonz

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Ur_Mom said:
What movie was this?

If it's bad, I wouldn't let my kids play it. There are a lot of games out there that are definitely not for kids. Adults only. This is probably one of them. And it's not normalizing anything. It's bringing it some attention. If that's their argument, then all activists are trying to normalize their cause. If anything, it's bringing some awareness to others.

The abuse in Wolfenstein was shitty and really got your emotions going. You got angry at a video game character. Some games can pull it off. It definitely didn't normalize or trivialize anything.

If this guy has a problem with it, he shouldn't play it. If he lacks empathy and thinks that this is normalizing or trivializing domestic abuse, he needs to seek some help. Some of us have emotions and can feel for others. Even fictional characters if done right.
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It was Irreversible. It contains a rape scene that clocks in around 7 or 8 minutes if I remember right. Now I have no issue with this, I just find it hilarious what gets banned and what doesn't. If the game gets an E rating or even a T by the ESRB and little johnny goes and buys it then maybe that could've avoided but if it is rated M then there are rules in place to help limit him from getting it. Either way if I have to suffer because little Johnny is a moron who doesn't know right from wrong then that is shitty.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290673/?ref_=nv_sr_1
 
Ur_Mom

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Simmonz said:
It was Irreversible. It contains a rape scene that clocks in around 7 or 8 minutes if I remember right. Now I have no issue with this, I just find it hilarious what gets banned and what doesn't. If the game gets an E rating or even a T by the ESRB and little johnny goes and buys it then maybe that could've avoided but if it is rated M then there are rules in place to help limit him from getting it. Either way if I have to suffer because little Johnny is a moron who doesn't know right from wrong then that is shitty.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290673/?ref_=nv_sr_1
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Ah, I heard about that movie. I was told it was a crap movie, but the only thing you really remember is the horrible rape scene.
 
Simmonz

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Ur_Mom said:
Ah, I heard about that movie. I was told it was a crap movie, but the only thing you really remember is the horrible rape scene.
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Pretty much spot on. The guy who directed it also did Enter the Void and I Stand Alone. Enter the Void which follows a guy's spirit in first person as it travels the world seeing the impact of his death on his family and includes a sex scene where your POV is inside his sister's vagina as it's getting pounded. I Stand Alone is about a guy who tries to deal with his urges of wanting to fuck his daughter. They're movies that are out there and very different from most. People either love them or hate them. I will give him this, whether I end up enjoying them or not I never feel the urge to turn them off due to them holding my attention.
 
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More bullshit from the cry baby politically correct dying to be offended crowd. They can all get bent. They're certainly not adults. If they were they would be able to differentiate fantasy and reality, plus the purpose of portraying emotionally gripping scenes and situations in video games.... JUST LIKE THEY DO IN FUCKING MOVIES....

Bunch of losers who love to be offended. This PC safe space culture shift is a BAD thing. It helps no one.
 
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